On the Edge of Nowhere
by risokura
Summary: None of this would have happened if Eren had just learned to control his temper, instead of punching his stupid ex-boyfriend through the front door of a certain pâtissier's café. LeviEren
1. At The Border Of Sunset Park

**Disclaimer: **I don't own SNK.

**A/N: **It's a miracle I'm even writing this, considering the fact that I haven't actively watched anime since I was about sixteen years old. Anyway, first time writing for SNK so forgive any sloppy characterization mistakes. This idea has been brewing in my head since Christmas and two and a half weeks later it's finally here. Yesh.

Also, special shout out to _seasaltkisses_ for drawing one of her infamous crayon fanarts for this. You can see that in all its glory on my writing tumblr.

-x-

_On the Edge of Nowhere_

-x-

**I**

_ At The Border Of Sunset Park and Park Slope_

-x-

"Maybe if you were home I wouldn't be in this mess right now."

"And just how is your current predicament _my_ fault, Eren?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'd have someone to keep me in line so stupid shit like this wouldn't happen."

"…Well, even if I'm not there, you have Mikasa."

"_Don't _bring her up; she doesn't even know about what happened, Armin." I paused and turned to look over my shoulder at my sister. I could see her cooking dinner in the kitchen through the fogged up glass of the terrace's sliding doors, "Can you imagine the _lectures _I would get if she knew?"

"She's going to find out eventually. You know she always does, Eren." Armin sighed on the other end and I could hear his voice growing weary with concern, "What about your dad? Where's he?"

"Brazil? Chile? Does it matter?" I replied, reaching into my back pocket for my pack of cigarettes and balanced my cell phone between my shoulder and ear for a moment, "He's not going to know about this mess either. Only _you_, Armin."

I could have sworn he laughed even though the situation was far from humorous, "And why only me, Eren?"

"Cause you don't judge me for the stupid shit that I always do."

"Ah, I don't think I have grounds to judge you considering all the times you and Mikasa have helped me out. I still owe you a couple of favors, don't I?"

"Hey, don't talk like that you little shit. You're my best friend and you know that." I pocketed the cigarettes once I removed one and pat myself down for a lighter, "Besides, you're one in a million, Armin. Don't think I can find too many people to replace you in this shitty and run down city."

"But I'm not even _in _New York right now."

"Yeah, well. You're still better than half the people that live here even if you aren't here." I sighed, pulling my shoulder away from my ear and lit up, "We miss you, ya know? It's almost Christmas… and it feels weird that you're not going to be here."

"I'll see you two for New Years!"

"Yeah, if I'm not locked up by then." I mused, taking the first drag of the cigarette, "Ugh, but really though? Who the hell sets a court date _two _days before Christmas!?"

"…Uhm… cause it's New York?" Armin tried feebly, "You know the city never cares about whose life they're destroying and on what day."

"It's not even like what happened was my fault." I said, gesturing to no one in particular, "Stupid Jean and his stupid—"

"Eren, do I have to remind you who put _who _in the hospital?"

"So? His stupid ass deserved it after the shit he pulled." I flicked the cigarette and stared up at the night sky. Couldn't see the stars, but as least the bright, dumb moon was there, "Can you believe I saw that jackass on the train the other day? Of all the damn places to be, I'm on my way home from work and there he is sitting on the damn train like he has the right."

"You don't own the MTA, Eren."

"I should. Jean would be banned for life and he'd have to ride a bike everywhere." I leaned forward on the railing in front of me, "But, yeah. I was working my last shift… you know, cause they fired me and everything over this whole mess."

"Yes, yes, I know. How's the job search going, by the way?"

I shrugged, "I'll start after Christmas. Anyway, listen. I'd just called Mikasa to tell her I was coming home. Keep in mind, its six o'clock, there are tourists and idiots _everywhere _and I just want to get home already." I took a drag of my cigarette and switched my weight to my left leg, "I barely make it into the train just as the god damn doors close so I'm kinda discombobulated. Anyway, I look up and there he is. That _jackass, _with his stupid broken arm and his new bitch—that Marco guy that I was _convinced_ he was fucking from the very beginning—laughing like he doesn't have a care in the world."

I could have sworn I heard Armin whisper _'gay men drama' _under his breath. He cleared his throat, "…Yes, yes. I remember this Marco character..."

"He doesn't even live in Brooklyn! He's all the way up in the Bronx! What the hell would he be doing on the freaking F train?" I banged my fist on the railing and turned to began pacing the terrace. I was starting to get cold from standing in one place for too long, "So, yeah. I see the bastard and they're just talking. You know, happy and laughing like the shithead didn't have a care in the world."

"Didn't he see you?"

"No, I was hidden behind some lady with disproportional tits and a group of Norwegian tourists." I sighed, turning around and began pacing back toward the other side of the terrace, "They got off at West 4th. Probably to go gay it up in Chelsea together."

"…Gay it up…" Armin repeated to himself, "…Sounds like fun?"

"Huh. Right. Whatever." I tapped my cigarette off the ledge, "Bet you all believe me now, don't you?"

"I never doubted you from the start, Eren. I just thought … hmmm…" Armin cleared his throat, "…I just thought maybe … I don't know. Maybe … there could have been a better way of handling things? I mean, you sent your ex-boyfriend to the hospital with a broken nose and arm…" He trailed off, "Not only that, what's happening with the café? From what I heard you basically trashed their whole front entrance... surely the owner wants you to pay for their damages?"

"That's another headache and court date all together." I sighed, resting my chin on the cold metal railing, "January 4th."

"Sounds like you're going to be a busy man, Eren Yeager."

"What a way to start off the fucking New Year, huh?"

There was a soft rapping on the glass of the door and I saw Mikasa staring at me behind it. She turned around and pointed behind her before exiting the vicinity and returned to the kitchen. I sighed, stabbed my cigarette out and chucked it off the terrace, "Listen, Armin. Gotta go. Mikasa's done with dinner and you know how fussy she gets about me eating."

"It's okay, I understand. I've gotta get back to work myself to be honest…" He trailed off, "…Keep me updated about what's going on, okay? And hang in there, Eren. I'm sure things won't be too bad. Everything will be fine once this all blows all. It'll be like it never happened."

"Oh, yeah. Like it never happened. Ready for this, Armin? _So, Mr. Yeager, what's this assault charge we pulled up in your background check?_ Yeah, that'll be a great reminder that it never happened."

"Positivity, Eren. You gotta think, _positive_." Armin sighed, "And trust in Mikasa. It might not be that bad, you know? I know she's still curious as to why you and Jean are no longer together even if she doesn't pry."

"She never liked him to begin with so it doesn't even matter."

"Hmmm." Armin cleared his throat, "Well… I'm going to go. Hang in there, okay? I'll be back in the city soon enough."

"And then you and Mikasa can take me out and we'll get trashed?" I sighed hopefully as I turned around to head back into the apartment.

"If that's what you want, then sure." Armin laughed in his usual way. Lighthearted and never a care in the world. I envied him sometimes; he was too nice for his own good, "Night, Eren."

"See ya." I pulled my phone away from my ear and ended the call.

Mikasa was busy setting the table as I slid back the glass door and stepped into the warmth of the living room. There was jazz music coming from her tablet on the dining room table and she had plugged in the Christmas tree so it brightened the dimly lit space.

She glanced at me briefly before turning her back and headed toward the kitchen again. I shirked off my coat and tossed it onto the couch. I sniffed the air for a minute and felt my stomach growl in anticipation. The aroma of whatever she had cooked had filled the apartment with a warm, garlicky scent.

I looked at the table where she had already set down two white plates. "Do you need help?" I asked, walking to the archway of the kitchen.

"Everything is fine, take a seat at the table." She murmured as she walked past me with a bowl full of salad.

"Are you sure?"

She paused and then turned to look at me, "…Well, perhaps you can get some wine from the bar?"

I walked past the table just as she sat a bowl of pasta down beside the salad and observed the bar in front of me, "What type?"

"Whichever you choose is okay."

"Red?"

"I said it was fine, Eren." She turned away from me again as if she couldn't meet my eyes. Mikasa was oddly demure tonight … must have had a tiring day at work.

Shrugging I pulled the wine from the bar and walked around to set it down on the table between where she sat the pasta and salad bowls. I turned back again to get wine glasses just as she placed a grey pan with a few slices of garlic bread down in front of me. She wiped her hands down on a towel by the stove, discarded her apron and walked toward the table.

"That everything?" I asked, setting the glasses down and she nodded silently, "…Oh, what about the cork—"

"Already have it." She replied, set about opening the bottle and poured a generous amount of wine into both our glasses. Once she was done, she set the bottle down and gestured toward me, "Well?"

"Oh, uhm …" I pulled the salad bowl my way as she began lumping her portion out of the pasta bowl, "So… how was your day?"

"Fine." She replied, "I worked some more with my new client."

"Hm? You mean the tiny one that looks like Armin?"

"Yes, Krista." Mikasa mused, raising her wine glass to her lips, "There's a lot of work to be done but she's making progress. She was able to do at least two pull ups today."

"Hey, that's up from zero when you first started with her." I stabbed at a baby spinach leaf, "Armin can't even do one."

"I'll make sure to put some work in with him when he comes home." Mikasa replied, twirling her fork in her spaghetti, "I assume that's who you were on the phone with outside?"

"Yeah, he's not coming home until _after _Christmas." I sighed, leaning back in my chair and threw my arms behind my head, "Just what the hell could be so important about California that he can't come back for a few days? The West Coast ain't shit compared to New York."

"New York was nothing but a dead end for him. I doubt the amount of biodiversity California has to offer exists in this city's polluted waters." Mikasa reminded me.

"There's plenty." I countered, "Just look at the Hudson River. You'll find heroin needles, pharmaceutical waste, urban runoff, probably a used condom or two. Hell, that's diversity, isn't it?"

"Don't be vulgar while we're eating, Eren." Mikasa sighed, scrunching up her nose momentarily.

"It's true." I shrugged while tapping my fork against my plate, "Oh, I have to go out somewhere in the morning."

Mikasa looked up at me, "It's almost Christmas Eve."

"I know." I replied, "But I have to take care of some last minute stuff and then I'll be home in the evening."

"…_Stuff_?"She asked. Her facial expression belied her emotions, but I heard it in her voice, "…Shopping?"

"Something like that." I muttered, refusing to meet her eyes. My suspicious nature wasn't helping me at all, "I'm just going downtown in the morning. I'll be back by four the latest."

"…Eren. Does this have anything to do with Jean?" I could kick myself for how perceptible she was.

"_No_." I quickly sat up in my seat and slammed my hands down on the table, "It doesn't have _anything _to do with that idiot."

She stared at me for a minute and then fiddled with the red scarf around her neck. Did she ever take that thing _off_? "…You know I hate it when you lie to me. …But I suppose you would tell me if it were really important, wouldn't you?"

"It's not. Don't worry about it."

"You would tell me if you were in _trouble_, right, Eren?"

"Mikasa."

"Well, someone has to look after you when Papa isn't here." It still baffled me how we were almost twenty four years old and she still called our father that.

"Mikasa, I'm twenty three years old. I don't need to be looked after."

"Hm," She speared a piece of cherry tomato, "…I just worry about you. With your temper and all."

"You've had your fair share of fights, too."

"Only when you couldn't fight your own." She set her fork down and dabbed at the corner of her mouth, "…Do you remember that time you wanted to fight Annie, in the fourth grade. She punched you so hard in the face that you had to get taken to the nurse by Armin."

"Yeah, and then both of you got yourselves sent to the principal's office because you guys turned the entire playground into Fight Club." I shivered at the thought of waking up to Mikasa sitting by my side in the nurse's office with her bruised fist and bandaged cut on her cheek. She still had the scar til this day even though it was extremely faint.

"Or what about that time you called yourself _reigning terror _on the group of guys that used to stalk Armin and harassed him for the first half of sophomore year?"

"You were there to beat the shit out of them as well if I recall things correctly." I took a sip of my wine, "I guess you were always there to clean up my violent messes now that I look at it."

She shrugged as if to wordlessly say, _I would have expected you to do that same_. Mikasa looked at me again after eating some more salad, "…So, I'll ask you again. …You're not in any type of trouble are you?"

"No." I replied, "Now stop worrying."

-x-

This whole mess started two months ago near the beginning of October.

This was back when I was still dating the idiot known as Jean Kirstein. Trust me when I say he was an idiot, because he was one. Period. Point blank.

I met him in my first summer as a post grad. Armin was back home from Miami—(of all the places to go to school, he chose _Florida_)—as was Mikasa—(actually, she stayed in the city to go to college. Miss Columbia grad over here)—and they were ready to celebrate once I got home. (If you're wondering, I went up north to Cornell. Ithaca's pretty nice, I'll say that much. Cold as shit though).

Anyway, like any typical start to young gay romance in the city, I met him in the West Village on a bar crawl night that left me puking my guts out into more gutters than I cared to remember. As such, I don't remember much of that night but we encountered him in this really shitty bar with nothing but a buncha old queens who were trying to relive their glory days of off-off-Broadway and shitty underground beatnik coffee clubs.

He was standing at the bar with his friend—this guy who was a freaking sea of freckles named _Marco. _Marco comes into play a little later on in this story, so just hold on to his name for a minute.

At that time I was more than on my way to drunk. I had just thrown up in some random gutter and while Mikasa and Armin were adamant on getting me back home, I wasn't ready to go yet. I was sipping on some water that Armin had gotten for me when Marco approached me first. As inebriated as I was, I was more than receptive to his approach. …Then …there's a certain lapse in time where I don't remember how Marco became Jean, but … that's what happens when you kill your brain cells with 70 proof vodka.

Anyway, long story short, I woke up the next morning in Armin's bed with Jean's number scrawled across my stomach in black sharpie with the words, _call me _written under it. No name, just _call me_.

We ended up as fuck buddies during the summer and I was calling the idiot my boyfriend by the middle of October. Things were okay until _Marco_ became an issue. If we had a fight, I'm pretty sure ninety percent of the time Marco was at the root of it all. I mean, he told me they had a fling back when they were younger, but they were friends now. _Best _friends. And I shouldn't feel intimidated by or question my boyfriend's best friend, right? …Wrong. And you know why it was wrong? Because gay men seem to be notorious for having drama that rivals even the cattiest of females.

But, at Mikasa and Armin's request, I let it go. And _because _I let it go, October happened.

Jean took me to this small café in the West Village for our anniversary. It was nice. A little cramped but nice. Anyway, there were a couple of people in the café. A group of high school girls, some old people, a yuppie couple and a family of five off in the corner. And then there was Jean and I.

The entire day had been normal. I'd just seen my father off at JFK for one of his month long excursions back to South America and Mikasa had been lounging around the house with a horrible head cold. I had offered to stay home and just have Jean come over to celebrate but she was adamant that I get out and go on with my plans for the night.

So, there we were, sitting around and with two slices of blackout cake engaged in nonstop conversation. But, then Jean's phone rings. Not once, not twice but _three _times. And every time it rings, he looks more and more agitated. Not in the sense that he's annoyed… but like he's in trouble or in a bad situation.

"Who is it?" I asked him.

"No one."

"No one?" I asked, glancing down at his pocket where he put his phone. It chimed and vibrated noisily against his thigh, "You sure about that?"

"Positive." He quickly changed the subject and flashed me one of his typical cocky grins, "So, you were saying about your father…?"

I glanced down at his pocket, "Don't give me that shit."

"I'm not giving you any _shit_, Yeager. Shit, can we at least celebrate this gay ass day without you going postal on me?"

I slammed my fist on the table and it rattled on its wobbly cast iron legs. One of the baker's behind the counter glanced up at our table, raising their eyebrows in vague interest. "Tell me who was _on _the phone."

"Look, I know you're fond of them, but don't make a scene, Eren."

"Then give me your phone."

"You're being paranoid."

His phone began ringing again and I was sick to death of hearing that stupid generic iPhone ringtone. "Jean."

"It's Marco." Jean said finally as he muted the phone.

"Of _course _it's Marco. Doesn't he know you're out with me?" I asked, taking a sip of my iced tea.

"Eren." He warned, his voice growing lower, "Don't start that shit again, it's our anniversary, dammit. I told you before there's nothing going on between us anymore. I thought you were over this."

"Don't act like you still don't want to fuck the freckles off his face."

I guess we were getting louder because the mother of the family of five covered her youngest daughter's ears and glared in our direction. Who cares, I was getting tired of this stupid shit. I shouldn't have to compete with an old flame for the attention of my boyfriend … who was soon to be my ex at the rate we were going. Mikasa used to say the two of us were a poor match. We were two hotheaded idiots that leapt into a relationship that was solely based on sex to begin with.

Well, Jean didn't like what I had to say and finally he pulled his phone from out of his pocket and looked at it for a minute. He seemed to be contemplating something for a minute, before turning on the front display and pushed the phone my way.

"_Maybe I still do_."

I don't think I have to go into detail about what I saw right there on his phone. All I'll say is that it was a picture message from Marco and I'll let your imagination conjure up the image on the display.

There are few moments in my life where I've gone into a blackout rage. Most of them have landed me face down in the dirt with a heavy boot pressed against my head forcing me to eat sediment mixed with my own blood. And maybe once or twice in the ER with Armin fidgeting nervously at my side and Mikasa glaring stone cold death at an EMT. I've survived most of the shit I've thrown myself headfirst into. Mostly because of sheer dumb luck… because I pretty sure there's been times when I should have died. Oh well, I'm sure heaven doesn't have the patience to reform me and hell probably wouldn't want me. I guess I've earned the right to be called a suicidal bastard…and I've earned it well.

My first punch connected with his nose and I instantly felt the sick snap of cartilage under my already bruising knuckles. He didn't have time to recover as I threw the stupid table to the side and immediately grabbed the idiot by his collar. Fucking … all those times everyone said I was crazy. All those times I'd been told to _calm the fuck down because it's not like that, Eren_. All those times I'd been suspicious of the two of them, I'd been _right._

Anyway, I was charged with assault in the third degree and landed myself in jail for the night, while Jean was getting cozy in the hospital with a broken arm, a broken nose and cuts from me punching him through the glass door of the freaking café.

Armin—wonderful, nonjudgmental and understanding Armin—was the one who met me at 6AM in the morning after they released me. I immediately made him promise not to tell Mikasa… there was no telling what she might or might not have done to Jean had she known the truth. We kept it to ourselves even if she was somewhat suspicious as to why I was walking in with Armin that morning… and _why_ hadn't I called her to let her know I wouldn't be back home that night?

The story found its way into _The Villager _the day after.

My job told me I was fired two months later.

...But, that's the whole story. I punched my stupid cheating ex-boyfriend through the door of some café in Manhattan and now I was being charged with a class A misdemeanor. And that meant that I could possibly be facing a year's worth of jail time if the judge gave me the maximum punishment for this stupid shit. Also, besides my assault case with Jean, there was also the matter of scrounging up the money to pay the café back for the repairs on the door that I broke. I hadn't really been in contact with the owner since the incident, but everything was looking to be resolved in early January.

Really, no matter how you looked at it, I was fucked.

Guess I have nothing but my own stupid impulsivity and hotheadedness was to blame.

-x-

I found myself in court at 9AM on the morning of December 23rd.

My lawyer had been optimistic even if I wasn't. She was attacking the case from the angle of I'd been wounded "emotionally" by my boyfriend's betrayal. It was a crock full of shit at that point, but maybe I'd get a judge that had been burned by a lover somewhere in their past and could sympathize with my current predicament. …That was a far stretch, I know.

Jean came into court looking as fucked up as ever. His arm was no longer in a cast but still hung snugly against his chest in a sling. He didn't even look at me as he stepped into the room behind his attorney.

We stayed standing as the judge took her position in front of us and told us to sit as she reviewed the specifics of the case. After she established which party was which and the grievances that were being settled that morning, she turned her attention to me.

"Eren Yeager." She began.

"Yes, your honor?" I asked, standing before her.

She glanced down at the papers in her hand, "...You're here to settle the matter of the third degree assault charges Mr. Kirstein has brought against you, correct?"

"…Uhm, yes."

"Hm." She tossed the papers down in front of her and turned to Jean next, "Mr. Kirstein."

"Yes, your honor?" He was about to stand up but she held her hand out to stop him.

"Stay seated, sir." She said, pulling up another set of papers, "This morning I received a call from your attorney with a rather last minute request to your case. …You no longer wish to prosecute Mr. Yeager, is that my understanding?"

"That's correct."

_Holy _ _ **shit**_.

The judge nodded and wrote something down on the paper in front of her, "You are well aware that once the charges are dropped, your case against Mr. Yeager is finished and he will possibly be prosecuted by the state at a later date?"

"Yes, your honor."

"All right then," She turned her attention back to me, "Mr. Yeager."

I turned away from Jean to look up at the judge again, "Uhm… yes?"

"While Mr. Kirstein has dropped the charges against you, the state of New York still reserves the right to prosecute you for your crimes. Do you understand?" I nodded and she continued, "If both parties are in understanding of the law, then I am finished here for the day. Are there any questions?"

When neither I nor Jean spoke up she slammed her gavel down on the surface in front of her. Court was adjourned.

-x-

We were standing outside of the Starbucks off on Broadway like the delinquents that we were, me smoking a cigarette and Jean sipping on his shitty over sweetened coffee. I turned to look at him as he had refused to meet my eyes since we stepped out of the courthouse.

"…Why did you do it?"

"Because we both fucked up."

"_We_?"

"Yes, we." He took a sip from his coffee and turned to face me finally, "I was stupid for fucking around with Marco behind your back and you were stupid for fucking _punching _me through a god damn glass door."

"You were stupid for running your mouth off at me like that."

"And you were stupid for letting your temper get the better of you, but obviously I was stupid first for baiting you." He shook his head and gestured toward his arm, "Guess this is what I get for all of it."

"It's not like we weren't fucked from the start."

"Listening to Mikasa again?" He asked.

I shrugged, "No, even though it would have maybe saved me some strife if I did. Anyway, Jean. I'm done with this if you are. You and I can go our separate ways and just remember this as some bad nightmare that ends today." I flicked my cigarette ash into the street.

"Sounds reasonable." He finished the rest of his coffee and chucked the cup into the overflowing trash bin on the street corner, "I should get going anyway. Got things to do."

Probably meeting Marco for one, but I wouldn't voice my bitter thoughts. I turned to him, "This it then?"

"Yeah, Yeager. This is it. We're even." He wiped his free hand off on his pants and stuck it out to shake mine, "See you around?"

"Hopefully, not." I replied, looking down at his hand and shrugged, "But, yeah, sure. Whatever. See you around."

After we shook hands, Jean headed off uptown while I lingered around in FiDi for a bit. I chucked my cigarette into the street, pushed my headphones into my ears and started off for the South Street Seaport.

The Christmas decorations in the city were nauseating at the pier. Everywhere I looked there were lights and ugly tinsel streams of green, red and silver. There was also that big ass obnoxious Christmas tree that they plopped right in the center of the walkway so that the already congested streets were even _more _unbearable to walk through.

After running across the street and escaping certain death by vehicular manslaughter once again, I dialed Armin's number as soon as I had entered the mall and made it halfway across the food court. He picked up on the third ring with a tired, "M'llo?"

"He dropped the charges."

Armin yawned loudly in my ear, "…Oh… Eren. …It's … it's seven in the morning. What are you doin'?"

"Armin, did you _hear _me? I said Jean dropped the charges." I leaned on the railing in front of me.

It took him a minute but he finally woke up, "…Wait, _what _did you say?"

I grimaced slightly at two annoying tourists who were taking obnoxious pictures of themselves _right _next to me. Did anyone understand the concept of god damn personal space? Or was that nonexistent where they came from? I picked up from where I was and began walking around the wrap around balcony, "Armin Arlert. Wake up and smell the morning roast. What are you doing?"

"God, Eren, its 7AM in California." He groaned, "I don't have to be into the office until eleven."

"Oh, well… sorry." I crossed my free arm over my chest, "I went to court this morning. But, you know that already."

"Yes, continue."

"The judge comes into the room and she establishes the basics of the case at first, right? Then she goes on to say that Jean dropped the charges. Just this morning, just like that."

"…Why, though? I mean that's great and everything, but what in the world could possess him to do something like that?" Armin questioned, "You _punched _the guy through a glass door, Eren."

"I think he realized his whole stupid part in everything a little too late." I replied, "At any rate, I'm ready to forget about Jean and his limp dick."

"Me too… even though that's not something I think about." Armin chuckled.

"I'd hope not." I tilted my head back and sighed, my breath puffing smoky white into the thin air, "So. That's one headache dealt with. The judge told me there's a chance the state could pick up my case, but who really wants to spend time sentencing a stupid twenty three year old kid to jail for beating up his cheating prick of an ex-boyfriend?"

"I'm sure there's someone in the city that would. You know… social justice people and all those sorts of things."

"_He_ cheated on _me_. Who's the _real _injured party in this mess?"

"Him, physically. You, emotionally, even though you've refused to admit it."

"I already did. With my fists on his stupid face."

"Hm. So you did." Armin yawned, "So what's next?"

"I have to go to court with the owner of the café, remember?"

"You still haven't met him yet, have you?"

"No. My lawyer's been kinda mum on the whole thing. Although she says this'll be an easier settlement than the one I could have possibly faced with Jean." I shrugged, "I'll just have to find a job to pay back whatever I owe the establishment. No problem."

"And …you haven't told Mikasa any of this, right?"

"…When it's all over." I said, "I promise I'll do it while you're here. It might soften the blow a bit."

"Of her anger?"

"She'll be upset but she'll get over it. She always does." I shrugged, "Anyway, Armin. I just called to let you know how today went. I'm gonna fuck around at the seaport some and then go home and sleep the holidays away. I'm picking you up at 8AM at LaGuardia on Tuesday, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why so early, man?"

"It's not my fault you guys are three hours ahead of me. And a red eye was all I could find."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just excited you're coming home."

"Eren, it's only been a month and a half since I left."

"Yeah, well, it's felt like ages." I sighed, "Anyway, go back to sleep. I'll talk to you sometime on Christmas, okay?"

"All right. Stay safe, Eren. See ya."

"Yeah, yeah. Go to sleep. Talk to you later."

I tapped my phone twice before pocketing it and put my headphones back in my ears. The tourists from before were slowly migrating to my current position, so to save myself from committing any more preventable crimes, I exited back through the double doors of the mall and into the food court. …I glanced around the area for a minute and shrugged. Guess I could get a soda or something from Subway while I wasted some more time before heading home.

I walked aimlessly around the seaport for a few, stopping short of the piers to watch the boats floating for a moment and then backtracked through the streets and headed for the R train again to take me back to Brooklyn. When I returned to the apartment, Mikasa wasn't in but she had left a note.

_If you get home before me, I stepped out to get a few things. Be back by noon. Made you a sandwich, avocado and chicken if you get hungry. It's in the fridge. _

…She really did worry about me too much.

I sat the note down on the coffee table in the living room and began pulling my coat off as I made my way over to the blinking answering machine in the corner of the living room. One call, it was from my father. …Looks like we were spending another Christmas alone with just the two of us. …But it was alright, I'd grown accustomed to the distance.

I pulled my phone out of my coat to check the time and text Mikasa to let her know that I was back home. After setting it down on the table I turned over in the chair and sighed. It had been an exhausting day and I was ready to sleep through the holidays until Armin came back home and we could go out as our little trio again. I'd missed the little guy and it really did feel empty without him being in the city.

I thought I heard Mikasa calling out to me a few minutes later, but by then my muscles had relaxed and I was falling asleep while staring at the blurring and blinking lights of an all too bright Christmas tree.


	2. Liquor Drenched Cerebellum

-x-

**II**

_Liquor Drenched Cerebellum_

-x-

It was one of those mornings where you wished your heart had stopped beating somewhere in the middle of the night and you woke up dead. You know, so that you were staring down at your body from the side of your bed in the morning and thinking to yourself, "_Damn, look at that poor little shit. What an idiot_."

Except reality is always a cruel bitch and I found myself as one of the many hapless lucky souls who would rise and see another day again. As I've said before, the afterlife doesn't seem to want me. Even though I awoke that morning praying for death.

My head was pounding and I could barely swallow past the nausea that was building in my stomach and traveling up my esophagus. It didn't help either that the windows of my bedroom faced the abominable rising sun. Armin sighed softly at my side and I figured he must have been up as well because he rolled over and groaned into his pillow. His digital watch beeped noisily by my ear and I opened my eyes just enough to make out the LED display on my docking station. Fucking _8:00AM_. What the hell? How were we even awake?

"Fuck." I rolled over onto my stomach and pushed my fingers into my eye sockets, praying the world would just stop spinning. "Why the hell did we drink so much last night?"

"Cause … it was New Years Eve." Came Armin's muffled voice.

"I want to throw up everything I've eaten in the last week. I feel like my insides are going to burst."

"Well, don't throw up in your bed." Armin yawned, "Christ, Eren. I haven't even been in the city for more than twenty four hours and you've already ruined my liver."

"Man, don't complain. You know you were just as excited to see us as we were you." I said, turning my head to look at his mop of unruly blonde hair. God, I had to stop moving. Movement meant sickness, which meant I was going to throw up at any minute, "Armin?"

"Mmm?"

"…You think Mikasa will make us breakfast if I beg her enough?"

"Don't think that's going to work."

"She didn't even drink as much as you and I did last night." I yawned and scratched at my head, "She should be up by now, anyway."

"Why are we even awake right now?" Armin asked, "Wasn't it like four or five when we got in last night?"

"…I don't know about you but I'm …" I paused, feeling something bubbling in my abdomen. My stomach lurched once and I felt the weight moving up into my chest.

"Eren?"

"… I'm …"

It pulled taut again and I immediately pushed myself up off the bed. I tried to cover my mouth and get out of bed, but it was too late. I ended up puking all over the side of my bed and onto the dark wooden floor. My vomit was a marvelous array of colors, speckled with the ramen Armin insisted we have for dinner and the assortment of multicolored liquors I'd guzzled down over the course of the night. What a site to behold.

"…Oh _crap_." Armin instantly sprung out of bed after I began dry heaving, "Just, hold on Eren. Hold on. _Please_ don't throw up anymore. Uhm …" He pulled my garbage pail over to my side of the bed and began pulling tissues out of the tissue box on my desk.

"…Think it's a little too _late_ for that…" I mumbled, while still hanging off the side of the bed.

"Here," Armin leaned down, "Wipe your face at least. You've … got puke on your eyebrows. I'm going to go get you some water and then we'll clean this mess up."

Armin immediately dashed out of my room and I groaned. My stomach lurched again and I threw up some more into the garbage pail. I wiped at my mouth and threw the soiled tissues he gave me into the bin. I could have sworn I heard a voice that sounded vaguely like Mikasa coming from down the hallway, coupled with Armin's frantic banter.

After what seemed like an eternity, he reappeared with a glass of water in one of his hands and aspirin tablets in the other. How the hell he was moving this fast was beyond me. Armin didn't bother closing the door behind him as Mikasa was two steps behind him with a bucket, gloves on her hands, paper towels under her arm and a mop in hand. Figures. This was my sister—always prepared no matter what the circumstances.

"You should have listened to me when I told you to stop drinking." She chided. What? No good morning?

I struggled to push myself up into a sitting position and Armin pulled at my shoulders to help me up. He sat down on the bed beside me while Mikasa dropped the bucket on the floor. Whatever was inside of the bucket rattled as it hit the ground. She pulled her scarf up around her face and went to go crack the window to air out the room.

"How are you even awake at this time of day?" I asked as Armin shoved the glass of water and tablets my way.

"Krista asked me for a personal outside of the gym today."

"But it's New Years."

"Fitness doesn't wait for anyone, Eren." Mikasa sighed, scrunching her face at the mess on my floor. She set paper towels down on the floor and used her foot to wipe them around, "We're going for a run in Central Park. She's bringing her girlfriend along with her, so you and Armin are welcome to join us if you want."

"…I'll pass." I mumbled, downing the pills and sipped sloppily at the water, "I'll probably die within two seconds of stepping outside the house."

"A little exercise might do you well. You can run off that hangover of yours in the cold and rectify part of the vendetta your body has against you for abusing it so much." She pulled over the garbage pail and dumped the paper towels in. Mikasa pulled out what appeared to be baking soda from the bucket, sprinkled it onto the floor and then paused to look at me. "Speaking of doing your body some good, I hope you've made it a resolution to give up those cigarettes this year."

"Yeah, _yeah_. I'm stopping this year. I don't even smoke that much to begin with." I mumbled, as she took her gloves off and sat down on my bed. A rush of cool air blew into the room and I shivered instinctively.

"One cigarette too many." She retorted.

"…Huh?" Armin spoke up behind us. I turned to look at him as did Mikasa. He pulled an empty bottle out from between my covers and looked at me, "I guess you didn't listen to Mikasa after all last night?"

"You went to _bed_ with liquor?"

"I think he said he was going to put it there for safe keeping before we went to sleep." Armin laughed and set the empty bottle down on my night stand, "Despite Eren's upchuck this morning, last night was fun guys. I'm glad we got to bring in the New Year together."

Mikasa nodded in her usual silent way before turning to look at Armin, "By the way, Armin. How long do you intend to stay with us?" She asked as she got up off my bed and began wiping the baking soda up off the floor, "Eren was lax with the details."

Armin laughed, "Until the 5th. I have to be back in the office by Monday morning." He glanced at me and then Mikasa, "I'm going to probably spend the night over at my grandpa's tomorrow and then I'll be back here for the remainder of my trip." He turned back to me, "Do you think I'll have a chance to see your father while he's here?"

"He's still in the Andean highlands." Mikasa replied as she disappeared from the room with the bucket in hand. Her voice echoed into the hallway, "He won't be back until later this month."

"Aww…" Armin sighed, "I always like talking with your dad, you know?"

"About what? Nerd stuff?" I muttered, throwing my pillow over my head.

"Interesting stuff." Armin laughed.

My door creaked open again and I heard Mikasa's footsteps nearing my bed. She pulled the pillow off my face so she could look me in the eyes, "You know, Eren. You could get off your bed and help me clean this mess up."

"I've got a throbbing headache and the world won't stop spinning. I'm in no shape to get up right now." I glanced at her for a split second before she dropped the pillow back onto my face again.

"Hm." Something wet hit the floor and I felt queasy at the thought of it, "Serves you right for drinking so much." Jeez, when Mikasa was in a mood she didn't pull any punches.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a delinquent." I sighed, closing my eyes.

We lapsed into silence as Mikasa finished cleaning the floor of my bedroom and Armin got up to help her with something. The room was starting to smell faintly of vinegar. I heard Mikasa get to her feet a few minutes later, whisper something to Armin and left the room. There was a swishing sound by my window and then near silence overtook my room. I was on the verge of sleep when I heard the front door slam shut and Armin's weight settling down on the bed again.

"Eren?"

"Mmm?"

Armin pulled the pillow from my face and I almost complained until he put a cool, damp washcloth over my forehead. I noticed that the swishing sound from before had been him lowering the blinds and closing the curtains that framed the window, "Mikasa left. She said to look after you and make sure you don't do anything stupid. You feel any better?"

"Nausea's gone." I said, "Just have a throbbing headache at this point."

"Just go back to sleep, okay?" Armin fiddled with the pillows behind me and I slid further into the bed as he rearranged them. He patted behind me and I pushed myself back up to lay on the newly propped up pillows.

"How are _you _not sick?" I asked.

"I drank a lot … more than Mikasa anyway, but I think you seem to have forgotten that I wasn't going shot for shot with you." Armin laughed and grabbed at his pillow.

"Seemed like you were."

"Yeah, well, you were _really _drunk." He yawned, "I bet it did."

I sighed, "All right, enough talk about alcohol. Let me sleep, Armin."

"Right, right. Oh …I'll make food when we wake up." Armin mumbled as he closed his eyes and settled back into bed, "It might not be as good as Mikasa, but it'll be decent, I promise."

"Sounds good."

-x-

Armin and I were currently sitting side by side on the couch watching some shitty horror flick—(_thank you, Netflix)_—and gorging ourselves on pizza. Which, when you think about it, might not have been the smartest idea considering my stomach was still a mess and all that grease probably couldn't have been the best thing for it. But, whatever. As a young, red blooded male, I was entitled to indulge in stupidity every now and then.

Mikasa came back home around five that evening, still dressed in her running gear and her arms full of grocery bags. She paused at the entryway, looked at the pizza box on the coffee table and then up to where Armin and I were sitting on the couch, "Feeling better, Eren?"

"Huh? Oh … yeah," I began, giving her a sheepish look as she walked over toward the dining room table and dropped the bags down, " …Thanks for this morning."

She shrugged wordlessly as if to tell me not to worry about it, "Be more mindful of yourself next time."

Armin was quick to change the subject as he sat up, "How was your run this morning?"

"It was nice. Krista really couldn't keep pace with me but she tried. Her girlfriend was a different story. I see now who gives her the drive for training with me." She disappeared into the kitchen and began putting the food away.

"Sounds … great." I honestly never knew what to make of Mikasa's clients.

"Yeah." Mikasa entered the living room again and unzipped her track jacket, "Eren, I forgot to ask you this earlier, but when do you go back to the office? There's something I need you to look into for me... well, something I need you to ask your boss to look into for me."

"Uhm… about what?" I felt my stomach drop as I reached forward for another slice.

"I need some information about event management and merchandise licensing agreements for the gym." Mikasa replied, "…Do you think you could ask him about it tomorrow?"

"…Possibly."

"Possibly?" She echoed.

"…Yeah, I don't know if I can do it tomorrow."

"…Well, what about Friday?"

"Not sure if that's possible either."

Her expression darkened as I looked away from her, "_Eren_?"

Armin looked at me pointedly as if to say I should take the opportunity to come clean to Mikasa _now _before I took this, ran with it, and made the situation worse. He cleared his throat and turned away from us. Jeez, way to back me up in this mess. ...Not that it was his fault I made poor decisions. Though I do stand by what I said earlier. Half of these things probably wouldn't happen if he was still around in the city to knock some sense into me when I was about to do something stupid.

"I'm … uhm…" I finally looked Mikasa in her eyes, "…I'm not working down at the firm anymore, Mikasa."

"…You're not?" She asked, "Well… what happened?"

"Something?"

"Eren." She began, lowering her voice, "Does this have anything to do about what we talked about last week?"

"Somewhat?" I asked, "It's …not really about it. I mean, my work has nothing to do with it. It … has to do with work, but not really. _Fuck_. I mean …"

"You're rambling." Armin whispered meekly at my side, and turned away again when I glared at him.

When Mikasa looked from me to Armin like the two of us were housing some dirty secret—which we were, I guess—I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, "…What I meant to say is…. I was fired."

"_Eren_." Mikasa started but I held out my hand to stop her. "FIRED?"

"Let me finish, Mikasa..."

She sat down on the couch opposite the two of us, "What did you do this time?"

"It's …kind of a long story." I began, "…Some stuff happened with Jean … some _bad _stuff.

"How bad, Eren?" When I began chewing on my slice instead of answering her, she leaned forward, "Eren. What did you _do?_"

"My anger kind of… took over for me as it usually does," I said, "I knocked Jean out through the glass door of a café. …It was our anniversary and I found out he was cheating on me like the stupid bastard he was. So I made sure to give the idiot a few nice souvenirs to remember me by."

"_Eren!_" Mikasa's eyes widened. She turned to Armin, "Is that why the two of you were together when he came home the next day? What happened?"

"He …" Armin glanced at me, "…I … uhm … I picked him up from jail the next morning and brought him home."

Mikasa covered her face with her hands and shook her head, "Eren, you didn't…"

"I already went to court. That's where I was that morning when I told you I had some _business _to take of downtown. Miraculously, Jean dropped the charges." I shrugged, "I just have to take care of this mess with the café owner and then I can put all this crap behind me."

"You _punched _someone and spent the night in jail for it. Eren, that's assault! You've done stupid stuff before, but this is just about the worst. Papa is going to _flip _when he hears about this!" Mikasa began, "How did you even get a lawyer for your case?"

"…You forget that I used to work in a firm. Even if I was just the front desk bitch, someone owed me a favor and did the work pro bono." I replied.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. You're a lucky man, Eren Yeager." Armin muttered.

"So, I'm assuming they fired you because they found out about what happened?"

"Yeah." I said as I shrugged my shoulders, "I'll find something else."

"Eren, how do you expect to get into law school with something like this on your record?"

"I'm guessing you've never heard of reformed ex-gang members, with a track record way worse than mine, who get into law school to try and help others in the same predicament?" I asked, raising a curious eyebrow in Mikasa's direction, "Record or not, these types of thing won't completely destroy my future."

"You're not a thug_, _Eren." She sighed, "I really can't believe you sometimes. What were you thinking? Destroying property? Beating Jean up like you did?"

"I was angry?" That was more than a rhetorical question at this point, "…Mikasa, it'll be fine. I've got enough savings to last me at least four months, and I'll find a new job before dad even figures out what happened with my old one when he comes back."

"…I just … I can't believe it went this far. I never liked Jean that much to begin with, but …" Mikasa shook her head and looked up at me, "Honestly, Eren. You should know better than to let your temper get the best of you. If you were going to beat Jean up, at least do it _outside _of a private establishment!"

"What did you want me to do? The asshole outright admitted to cheating on me right there. He slides his stupid phone across the table without a second thought and there's this disgusting picture of Marco just there. Bright and ready, and wanton looking—"

"Too much information, Eren." Armin blanched.

"Well that's what I saw, okay? But it's a dead issue at this point. We've since gone our separate ways and all that mess is behind me. I don't want to think about Jean and his stupid face, or talk about him anymore for that matter."

My sister sighed and turned her gaze back to me, "When is your court date?"

"Hm?"

"Well, you didn't mention anything to do with the café besides beating Jean up there. I would only guess that the owner is taking you to court over the damages done to his establishment?"

"On the fourth." I replied, "That's when I have to go in."

"…Well, I'm going with you." Mikasa said.

"Mikasa, you don't—"

She gave me one of those looks that clearly meant that I shouldn't argue with her because I wasn't going to win, "I _said _I'm going with you."

Armin seemed to pipe up when he realized the atmosphere had gotten less tense, "If Mikasa's going, I'm going to come too."

I sighed, "I don't want to turn some pointless day in court into another field trip where you two get to see me get skewered by a judge."

"No one is getting _skewered_. You're paying retribution for your brash and pigheaded antics." Mikasa snapped, "…But going back to earlier, why did Jean drop the charges?"

"He basically said we were both idiots and it wouldn't be fair if I was the only one to get punished for it…" I mused, "… I guess that was his fucked up way of apologizing for the whole thing."

"He didn't deserve you anyway." Mikasa sighed, "…I'm sorry I challenged what you thought earlier. Maybe we could have avoided this whole mess and—"

"Like any of this is your fault, Mikasa. What the hell, Jean was an idiot and had to deal with the consequences."

"But, Armin and I—"

I shook my head and cut her off again, "Stop trying to take responsibility for my messes, you do it far too much."

"Eren."

"I already told him the same thing, Mikasa. He won't hear it." Armin sighed, "Really, what can we do? What's past is past, right?"

"I suppose so, but…"

"Listen, I'll go into court on Saturday and get this stupid bill for the damages and everything'll be fine." I took a bite of pizza and nearly burned my mouth, "So stop worrying."

"In case you didn't know, the name _Eren Yeager _is synonymous with the verb worrying." Armin chimed in from my side.

"I'm going to have to agree with Armin on this one."

"Give me a _break_ you two."

"Maybe we will," Mikasa said as she rose from the couch and headed for the kitchen, "… when you finally give us a reason to."

-x-

I _needed _a drink—that's all I could think about when I got out of court that Saturday afternoon.

It had been snowing that morning, the sky a light and foggy grey. Perhaps some type of foreshadowing for the way my day would go. Mikasa and Armin caught the train with me into the city, two faithful tagalongs that wouldn't go away no matter how many times I told them they didn't need to come to this dumb mess.

We passed through security and met with my lawyer who was already pacing around nervously in the lobby waiting for me to show up. I didn't like the look on her face from the moment I saw her and she didn't really seem to be up for speaking. Shrugging, I told her to lead the way and she took us to a security guard who led us to one of the top floors of the courthouse. The hallways were nearly empty save for a few paralegals wandering about, more guards and the occasional lawyer or two.

The guard stopped at the end of the hall and let us into another hallway that led to the individual courtroom. My lawyer glanced back at me for a minute and then pushed through another set of mahogany double doors and I was greeted with near silence as we made our way into the presence of another judge. Mikasa and Armin took a seat in the gallery behind us while my lawyer led me past the bar to assume my seat.

9:34AM.

That was the exact time that I met Levi.

He was short… r_eally _short. Like I actually thought he was a midget—sorry, that's not exactly pc—_little person, _when I first saw him. And he _scowled. _I think his face might have been permanently set that way, because he sure as hell had a stick up his ass that someone desperately needed to move. And did I mention he had the most horrendous undercut I'd ever seen grace someone's head since Mikasa's unmentionable _scene _phase from our freshman year of high school?

There was a blond man at his side that almost dwarfed him in size. He turned from Levi to turn an eye on me and I recognized him in an instant. He had been one of the first officers on the scene. Actually, he had been the person that had the honor of cuffing me and throwing me into the back of his squad car now that I think about it. Seated behind the two of them were two other people, a man and a woman. …They were familiar too… but I couldn't remember if they were in the café when all the stuff went down with Jean?

"_So, this is the dumbass you had the pleasure of arresting two months ago, Erwin?"_

Levi didn't seem to care if anyone overheard the two of them, but he conducted himself appropriately after the man he had addressed as Erwin gave him a pointed look. The judge came into the room and the bailiff announced for us to rise. I quickly glanced over my shoulder at Armin and Mikasa who were seated directly behind me. My sister seemed to be glaring daggers in Levi's direction and I could almost hear the anger boiling off of her. …No doubt she'd heard him.

The judge was an elderly man with a heavy wrinkled forehead, thick moustache, but oddly beguiling smile. He slowly dropped down into his seat and sighed fondly as he surveyed the room. We all sat after he did. "Ah, so many young people in the room and no one seems to want to smile? Quite a sour way to start off the morning, eh?" When no one in the room said anything, he laughed and talked to himself for a moment, "Guess, I'm talking to myself. Tough crowd today, hm, Pixis?" Pixis leaned back in his chair and held a piece of paper close to his face, "Let's see… let's see, and just who do we have here in court this morning? … Eren Yeager?"

"Yes, your honor." I stood up so fast I almost knocked my chair down.

"Ah, calm down, calm down. Breathe easy, Mr. Yeager." He readjusted his glasses, "So, Mr. Yeager and …_well_… it's been quite awhile since this name has crossed my desk, hasn't it? _Years _in fact." Pixis turned his attention to Levi, "Pleased to see you back in court, Levi."

Levi stood up without having been told to do so, "This isn't the place for reminiscing."

"Ah, still hard up after all these years, hm? Yes, yes, you're right." He turned back to me and made a motion for us to sit back down, "All right, let's get down to business. It is my understanding that Mr. Yeager here is being sued to the tune of $10,000 worth of damage to Mr. Levi's establishment, correct?"

...Did he just say _ten thousand __**dollars**_?

"That's correct." Levi replied, as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hmm…" Pixis turned an eye on my lawyer, "I see that Mr. Yeager was a patron at Levi's café in the evening hours of October 11th?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

"He was accompanied by another man… a Jean Kirstein? Am I saying that right?" When my lawyer nodded he continued, "Ah, so there was a fight between the two. A bunch of yelling, punching … all that good stuff that the violent youth is into these days." He looked to Levi's side of the room, "Levi, you weren't there for the scuffle, but there were plenty of witnesses around to corroborate this story? I understand you've brought one or two of them with you to court today, correct?"

Levi waved behind him and the female and male seated behind him looked at each other. He turned around and murmured something and the female grinned and instantly got to her feet, "Permission to speak, Your Honor."

"Permission granted. Please state your name for the court record."

"Hanji Zoë." She replied, "Mike and I were at the café on the night the incident happened."

"And what exactly did you see, Ms. Zoë?"

Hanji glanced my way and shrugged, "This kid over here sucker punching his boyfriend for one.

"_Ex_." I seethed under my breath and my attorney patted my lap in an attempt to quiet me.

"It was pretty brutal… but kind of entertaining, too. I mean Levi was surely going to burst all the blood vessels in his forehead and eyes when he saw the damage—"

"Ms. _Zo__ë. _Keep to the facts please."

"Yeah, sorry. Anyway, yeah. This kid broke the door." She nodded behind her to the blond man that was sitting beside her, "Mike's the one who made the call to the cops. Erwin showed up ten minutes later and … that's that."

"Thank you," Pixis wrote something down and then turned to me, "Mr. Yeager, can you dispute any part of Ms. Zoë's story?"

I glanced at my lawyer and she told me to stay seated, "Your Honor. You have to understand that it was never Mr. Yeager's intention to destroy any part of Mr. Levi's property. He was baited by Mr. Kirstein and the situation escalated further than it ever should have."

"Be that as it may, it doesn't negate the facts of Mr. Yeager's behavior…" Pixis replied, "I see that at a court date prior to this, Mr. Kirstein dropped the charges against you. Narrowly avoided possible jail time, hm? I suppose that's one less headache for you to worry about. However, facts are facts and evidence is everything in a court of law."

"Your Honor, you can't possibly expect my client to pay the fees for these damages by himself? He's only twenty three years old and this current debacle has left him unemployed." My lawyer sputtered and I was beginning to feel a headache slip in from the edges of my skull, "He would enter financial _ruin _trying to pay this amount back to Mr. Levi."

Pixis shook his head, gavel raised in hand, "That is not my concern. Mr. Yeager clearly destroyed property that wasn't his own and has to face the consequences of his actions."

"But, Your Honor—"

However, before Pixis could respond and the objection was already forming on my attorney's lips, Levi stuck up his hand and interjected in the entire mess, "An additional matter I would like to address, if you will?"

"…Levi?"

"In addition to the reparation for my damaged store front, there's also the matter of a $16.85 bill that this brat and his associate have neglected to pay. …A bill for two iced teas and two slices of half eaten black out cake…" Levi looked my way, "…Might I suggest these be paid off by means of another sort?"

"Hm? Do you have something in mind?" Pixis asked, eyebrows rising in amusement.

"The bills I've amassed in damage have already been paid in full by my own hand... but if this brat's attorney is claiming he's been out of a job due to his own stupidity, then I see another course of action that might satisfy me and this whole mess all together." Levi turned to look at me, "A little manual labor is what I have in mind. He spends his time working underneath me to pay off his debt. No pay, of course. The hours he clocks up will serve as an indicator of sufficient service or not."

My attorney instantly slammed her hand down on the desk in front of her, "_Objection_, Your Honor. This idea is completely unethical. Never in my twenty years of practicing law have I ever heard something so … so… preposterous."

Erwin rose his hand to speak after she was done with her outburst and Pixis granted him permission, "…Actually, Your Honor. It's no different from community service if you think about it that way. Mr. Yeager would be working off his debt to Levi until he finds a proper source of employment to pay him back in full."

My attorney glanced at me and I sank lower into my seat, closed my eyes and shut out the rest of the courtroom. Everyone's voice became a series of _womp, womp, womp_. Like those stupid Charlie Brown cartoons Armin used to constantly drag me over to his house to watch. I could hear Mikasa hissing my name under her breath, but I ignored her. What type of objection could I raise? I was screwed from all four corners. There was no refuting my stupidity, the damage had been done and now I was the one that had to deal with it all.

"_Eren_."

I finally snapped out of my thoughts when Armin began poking me in the back and I turned around to look at him. The gavel slammed in front of me and I whipped my head back around to the judge who was looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"Mr. Yeager, are you listening?"

I immediately snapped to and stood up, "Yes, Your Honor."

"Then you understand the ruling that I have decided on here today, correct?" When Pixis saw the confused look I was giving him, he sighed and straightened his posture, "You will work for Levi until you've found proper employment and can pay him back via other means. Is that clear, Mr. Yeager?"

I turned to Levi who was staring right back at me from the left side of the courtroom. His eyes were still in that same half lidded, uninterested gaze as they had been during our entire time in court. I turned back to Pixis as he waited for me to answer him and nodded.

"Uhm …yes, Your Honor."

"Very well then."

Pixis' gavel slammed down on the pedestal and court was adjourned. My attorney sighed long and hard and looked up at me. She was saying something, but I wasn't really listening. I immediately let myself out of the bar and into the gallery where Mikasa was frowning so hard I thought her face would break and Armin was nervously glancing between Levi and his motley entourage—because that's what they looked like—and back to me. _What _in the hell had just happened? I… I couldn't tell.

All I knew was that this nightmare was finally over and I wouldn't have to look at a courthouse for a long time. I grabbed Mikasa and Armin by their hands and began pulling them out of the gallery and towards the doors leading out of the courtroom. My attorney was close behind us, yelling my name and telling me to stop because we had some 'new developments' that we had to discuss. But, that stuff could wait.

All I could think of was had my ass just been saved… or doomed by the surly midget dressed in black?

…I really wouldn't discover the answer to that question until I stepped foot into Levi's café at 8AM that Monday morning.


	3. Levi's Near West 4th

-x-

**III**

_Levi's Near West 4__th_

-x-

"Armin. I'm only twenty three and I've completely lost control of my life."

I sighed, smacked a heavy arm into the cool sheets of my black duvet and huffed loudly. It was three in the morning and I was staring up at my dark ceiling with a sense of despair that hadn't left me since I had left court that morning. Armin was trying to sleep at my side, bundled underneath the sheets and half awake because I wouldn't stop trying to talk to him. We both had to get up in less than four hours because his flight was early that Sunday morning and I obviously had to drive him back to the airport.

"I'm going to run away to join some obscure circus in Europe. Make sure Mikasa doesn't follow me."

"…Eren, that's ridiculous." Armin mumbled.

"I'll enroll in clown college. Cause my life is so humorous."

"Yeah, right." He replied, "You know, contrary to popular belief, people do take the whole clown college thing seriously. Before they accept you, you have to send in headshots and portfolios and—"

"How do you even _know_ this?"

"I read a lot, remember?"

"…Jeez, Armin, I can always count on you for being a spring of useless knowledge, huh?"

He poked his head up so that the covers pooled around his shoulders, "It's not _useless._"

"Yeah, yeah. You've saved the day a couple of times with that big brain of yours, haven't you?" I placed a heavy hand on top of his head and mussed his hair up a bit, "But, really. This whole thing is ludicrous. Why did the judge agree to his stupid, cockamamie plan anyway? Why in the _hell _would I want to work for _Levi_, anyway? Why in the hell would _he _want me working for him?"

"Because … you don't have the funds to pay him back right now?" Armin asked as he reached over to the nightstand on his side of the bed and picked up his phone.

"That was a rhetorical question." I muttered, "You know, I bet he's a sadist. A cake baking sadist, who fills pastries with arsenic and all other types of poison, sells his concoctions to little children and then goes home at night and laughs in glee as they die."

"…Eren, you're being ridiculous."

"Did you _see _him, Armin? He was the stuff children's nightmares are made of. Short, angry and demonic." I protested, "He fits the profile of someone you wouldn't wanna be trapped in an alleyway with alone at night. I don't understand how _he _even owns a bakery."

"…Looks are deceiving, Eren." Armin reminded me, "And besides, I think he's being pretty lenient with you considering everything you've done. _Really _lenient, in fact. Like …guardian angel type level lenient. Technically, you could just work for him until you've made up the cost of damages in hours alone and not have to pay him back a dime."

"Pft, as if I'd work for him that long."

"It would probably be in your best interest. Just think about it Eren. Jean dropped his charges and now this Levi guy is saying all you have to do is _work for him _without any type of pay and everything will be fine. Do you realize how lucky you really are?"

"Okay, maybe. But what about when my father comes home?" I asked, "I can't tell him about any of this. _'Hey, dad, I quit my shitty corporate job to go work as a dish boy in the kitchen of some West Village bakery_'? Yeah, he'll definitely approve of that." I shrugged, "I mean, it'll still look like I'm going to work, but I _still _need an income of some sort. Do the math for me, Armin. How long would it take to work off ten thousand dollars on minimum wage?"

Armin shrugged, "Well… let's see. You'd be working in the city so I'd say you'd probably earn a bit more than minimum wage. Hypothetically, let's say you're earning ten dollars an hour. You'd be working forty hours per week and then there are taxes and all that stuff, but once you factor that out… I'd say … you'd probably have the money together by the beginning of the summer."

"_SUMMER_?"

"Well, these are all rough estimates. But, there's fifty two weeks in a year and then—"

"No, don't break my brain with all that math, Armin. Sheesh." I sighed.

"This is all hypothetically speaking of course. It could be worse." Armin shrugged his shoulders, "I bet it won't be all bad. You just gotta think positive is all."

"…What _positivity _can I find in my current situation_, _Armin? I've lost everything that defined my life in the span of two months and now I'm stuck in this … this place that I can't even describe, I—" I paused and exhaled, "I don't want to think about it."

"It'll be rough, but I'm sure you can do it, Eren. You always have in the past, right?"

"…Yeah, because I always have you and Mikasa backing me up and cleaning up my messes."

"Eren, don't be like that." Armin shifted in the sheets, "What have you always told me when I was too weak to defend myself physically and you and Mikasa came to my aid?"

"…Yeah, yeah, I know." I sighed, "Sorry for keeping you awake with this mess. We should sleep. I'm not trying to fall asleep behind the wheel tomorrow and crash my dad's car first thing in the morning."

Armin laughed, "It's okay. …Besides, talking about things is good, Eren. Even though I know you'd rather settle confrontation with your fists."

"Yeah, it's always been _your _job to be the verbal diplomat in this little ragtag group of ours." I muttered.

"I guess so." Armin sighed, "…Eren, you're just going through a really rough patch right now. In a couple of months, none of this stuff will even matter. You'll probably have a new job and you can leave Levi's place and focus on paying him back. He seemed scary in court … but … he might be an accommodating guy, you know?"

I sighed, closed my eyes and turned on my side so that I was facing away from him, "…Don't be to optimistic, Armin."

-x-

There was no such thing as being _bright eyed _and _bushy tailed_ that Monday morning when I descended into hell. Mikasa woke me up from a less than pleasant dream with two forceful knocks on my door. My eyes were heavy when I opened them and saw _6:00AM _blinking back at me on my docking station. I glanced toward my window and saw that the sun had barely ascended past the horizon…

This was _inhumane_.

I must have dozed off shortly after I opened my eyes because she was knocking on my door again and called my name. I scrambled out of bed and headed for the shower before she said another word. When I finally got dressed—(I admit, it was nice to just throw on regular clothes for once instead of a stuffy suit)—I headed downstairs where Mikasa was sitting at the dining room table with breakfast spread out before her.

"…What compelled you to make all of this?" I questioned, looking at my steaming bowl of rice and unopened pack of natto sitting beside it, "Ugh, Mikasa. You know I hate this stuff."

"We actually have time to sit down and eat for once." She answered, "And eat it, it's good for you."

"…I don't have time to eat all of this."

"I timed your commute." She picked up a piece of tamagoyaki with her chopsticks and glanced at the clock overhead, "If you stop complaining and eat like I instructed, we should be able to make it to the train station together at _7:15_."

I groaned at my sister's efficiency, "…You really don't have to—"

"Don't start this again." She cut me off and picked up a piece of mackerel, "Just _eat, _Eren."

I picked up the bowl of rice and chopsticks as she turned her gaze away from me. I poked at my rice and then looked back up at my sister, "…Are you angry with me?"

"Frustrated." She answered.

"I didn't intend for any of this to happen…"

"I know that." She said, swirling her chopsticks around to pick off the slime from the natto, "So stop saying it and just eat your breakfast so we can get going."

I fiddled with my rice and then pulled a piece of tamagoyaki off the plate in front of me, "What do you think they'll have me do today?"

"Dish washing." Came her curt reply. She paused and then looked up at me and shrugged, "I highly doubt that … _short _bastard would want you anywhere else in his café."

I picked at the packet of natto, groaned at the smell and began whisking it around to thicken the consistency of the beans. "…Guess I'll be on my feet all day then."

We lapsed into silence again with me forcing my way through my bowl of rice and natto—(_I don't care how _good _that crap is for me)—_and Mikasa lost in her thoughts. After she finished off the rice in her bowl, she set her chopsticks over the top and looked up at me again.

"Eren, you have to stop all of this."

"Hm?" I looked up at her, mouth full of rice and she grimaced slightly at my lack of manner. I could feel a lecture coming on.

"…We're both going to be twenty four in a matter of months and I'm just worried that you're …" She sighed, "…I'm just worried that you're wasting your potential. I know things haven't always been easy... and although few have acknowledged it, you've come a long way from the reckless kid that you used to be. But, I…"

"…You?" I asked, rice poised on my chopsticks.

"Sometimes… sometimes… I think Papa might be right about the things he says."

"What? That his son turned out to be a no good son of a bitch?"

"_No_." She said, "…You know that's the farthest thing from the truth. You're such a passionate person, but your impulsivity lands you in more trouble than it's worth." Mikasa took a sip of her tea as she paused to think, "…And you know that he doesn't mean what he says, Eren. His temper gets the best of him. You two are one in the same..."

"Okay, okay. So I crash headfirst into nearly everything I do. I get it." I muttered, "I know, I understand. What do you want me to do, Mikasa?"

"Just … try and exercise a little more caution, okay?" She replied, fiddling with her scarf. _Why _was she wearing that thing and we weren't even ready to leave yet? "I want things to be different this year. For all of us that is, not just you. I just want to spend a little more time with you … I want _Papa _to spend a little more time with us."

"We're adults now,"

"I know that, but …"

"…You want us to be a normal family again? Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Just for a little while longer." She looked at me, "We don't have mom around anymore… and I just want you two to stay close to me."

"Mikasa, it's been fourteen years already."

When she looked up at me, I instantly regretted my words and sucked my teeth.

You see …we adopted Mikasa from Japan when she was eight. Her parents were really close friends of my father and they were involved in the same line of work that he was. You know… the whole running around the world and trying to be a _good person _by helping impoverished countries—(that were destroyed by your own home country, let's not forget that important fact)—out with medicine and shit thing.

Anyway, one year while her parents were away on a really high risk assignment in Singapore they were …killed. Not by some type of environmental mishap or something either, I mean … someone _killed _them. My father still won't tell me the details till this day. Apparently they're too gruesome for him to even want to recall.

After that, he immediately booked a fight and flew off to Japan and came back with Mikasa two weeks later. She had no other relatives to take her in, and apparently it was in her parents will that she be taken in by us should anything happen to them.

I'd met her once before. Ages ago around Christmas when we were really young. Her father used to live in New York and they were back in town to visit some of his family. We all went out to dinner one night and she barely talked through the entire thing. Well, for one, her English wasn't the best back then and I really didn't have anything to say to her.

But, when we were standing outside while our parents said goodbye, I remember her shivering in the cold. I kept asking her if she was all right, but she kept giving me this blank stare like she didn't understand a word of what I was saying. So… I gave her my scarf and told her to use it to keep warm just as my mother called my name so we could get going.

…She was wearing the exact same scarf when my mom and I went to pick her and my father up at the airport. When she saw me she stared at me for a minute, looked down at the scarf, began to unwind it from around her neck and moved to return it to me. I didn't recognize it at first, never understanding that the gesture I had made a few years back meant so much to her. …But I told her to keep it and I guess it's become something of a security blanket of sorts to her because she still wears till this day.

…Anyway, after she came to live with us, everything was fine for another two years and then my mom …

"…Mikasa, I'm sorry."

She shook her head, "…No, we shouldn't be talking about this first thing in the morning." She replied and rose from the table as if to effectively end the conversation, "When you're done just leave your dishes on the table."

"_Mikasa_."

She picked herself up from the table without another word and took her dishes into the kitchen with her. When I heard the water running, I set my bowl down along with my chopsticks and walked to the archway of the kitchen. Her back was to me but I could see her scrubbing furiously away at the dishes in the sink. When she hit the faucet off I placed my hands on both her shoulders and spun her around so she could face me.

"…I'll do better, okay?" I began, "I'll fix the mess I've made of things."

"Eren, go finish your breakfast."

"I'm serious." I said, letting go of her shoulders and she turned away from me, "…I'll make it right so you won't have to worry about me anymore."

She mumbled something and nodded her head. I realized I probably shouldn't press her anymore and returned to the dining room table while she clanked around in the kitchen. I had lost my appetite and so I left my half eaten bowl of rice on the table and went back to my room. With a quick glance at the clock I saw that it was a little past seven, so I sat down on my bed and reached for my phone. The text from Armin wishing me good luck was still bright and unchecked on my lock screen. I'd talk to him when it was a more reasonable time in California.

Realizing that I wasn't going to do anything else with my time, I reached for my scarf and jacket and headed back downstairs with the intention of waiting around in the living room until Mikasa was ready to go. Of course, there wasn't any need for that because she was waiting at the front door with her gym bag slung over her shoulder. The table was cleared and I could only surmise that the dishes were put away as well. We filed out into the hallway and she locked the door behind us. As the elevator came and we boarded, she picked her scarf up over her face and averted her gaze for a minute. It was something of a nervous habit that she had developed over the years.

"…Eren. I don't doubt your ability to make things right." She began, "I never have and I never will. But, you're so hardheaded. And I just worry that that clouds your vision for the future since you're always so focused solely on your present." She shook her head and lowered her scarf, "I'm sorry, we don't have to talk about it anymore. I don't want to upset you."

"I'm not."

"Hm," She nodded, "…Just know I'll always be in your corner no matter how many times you screw things up. Even if I'm mad at you for the stupid things you do, it doesn't make me love you any less, okay?"

"…Thanks. …I guess?"

Mikasa sighed as the elevator opened to the first floor, "Now let's go. You have a new boss to impress and I have lazy unfit people to whip into shape."

-x-

Levi's café was tucked away into the fuckery that is known as the West Village.

Have you ever seen how the West Village is set up? Just go look at a map of Manhattan and maybe you'll understand what I mean. The streets turn into names, avenues are nonexistent and it's just a fucking mess of crisscrossing streets that make absolutely no sense and you're bound to get turned around more than a couple of times. I know I have, even when I'm _not _drunk. Granted, you spend enough time here and you'll be able to figure this mess of streets out. ...Kinda.

I got out of the West 4th street train stop and made my way past the morning crowds to my destination. The café was about a five minute walk away from the train station, give or take. It was as I remember it—small and cozy. My eyes traveled the length of the awning overhead and down to the newly installed door I had broken last autumn. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to glance at the time. _7:55AM_. Time to bite the bullet and get in there, Eren.

I moved aside so some busy corporate type—(_haha, that was me last year, wasn't it?)—_could rush out with their coffee and began hitting the pavement again. The door jingled and closed slowly behind me. No one really paid any attention to me as I stepped into the warm café, began taking off my gloves and tried to shake the cold from my bones. The air was sweet and the aroma of freshly baked confectionaries lingered permanently in the air.

I was about to advance toward the side of the counter where a woman was busy brewing coffee, when someone brushed past me and interrupted my progression.

"Petra! _**Petra**_. Where's _Levi_?"

The woman that had been making the coffee picked her head up and smiled gently, "Morning, Hanji. He's not in right now." She paused and looked down at whatever the woman who had brushed by me was holding in her arms, "Ah, good morning to you too, little Ravioli."

"Dammit, where in the world did he go then?"

"Didn't say. Just that he had to take care of some errands and he'd be back around noon." Petra answered. She glanced down at whatever Hanji was holding in her arms, "Trouble with Ravioli again?"

Hanji's shoulders dropped and she bowed her head slightly, "How'd you guess?"

"What happened this time?"

"Tch." Hanji turned slightly and blew her bangs out of her eyes in exasperation, "I found her running around in the yard, _that's what_. I've told him time and time again to _stop _leaving her alone like that."

As she turned around I realized that she was the same woman that had testified against me on that day in court. ...Actually, thinking back to it, Hanji had been that woman sitting with the man towards the back of the café when all that shit with Jean had gone down. No wonder she looked familiar.

She turned again and we made eye contact. Whatever worry that had etched its way into her features instantly left. I glanced down at what she was holding in her arms and quelled the need to raise an eyebrow. It was a little Pomeranian. When I looked back up at Hanji she turned away from Petra, gathered the little dog in her arms and made her way over to me with a blank expression on her face.

"Uhm, I'm here… to see Levi?" I asked as she stared down at me. Apparently she had issues with personal space because she was getting closer by the minute.

I felt the urge to sweat when the blank expression of hers instantly turned into what can only be described as a sadistic smile and she jostled the puppy in her arms, "Ah, Levi's new slave has come for his first day of work, has he?"

_Slave?_

Petra instantly picked her head up when she heard Hanji and wiped her hands down on her apron after dropping a cup of coffee off with the girl standing behind the register. She let herself out from behind the counter and came over to the two of us, "Are you Eren Yeager by chance?"

"Uhm, yeah." I glanced from Hanji to Petra.

Her eyebrows furrowed inwardly as she seemed to be thinking about something but then smiled at me and extended her hand. "Welcome. I'm Petra Ral." After we shook hands she turned to Hanji, "I'm sorry, but I really have to take this, Hanji. But I'll let him know you came by." She looked down at the panting dog in Hanji's arms and scratched it behind its ears, "See you, Ravioli."

I glanced at Hanji who sighed exasperatedly, "Tell him if he doesn't call me soon I'm going to put her in his bed and have her pee in it."

"Will do." Petra smiled and motioned for me to follow her. She stopped short of the register again, "Sasha, I'll be right back. You'll be able to hold it down until then, right?"

The girl at the register gave Petra a dazed look before nodding vigorously and turned back to the patron who was in front of her. Petra pushed open a door leading to the back and I followed her through the kitchen and into another back room with a longer hallway and three rooms at the end of the hall.

She turned to look at me, "Levi's not in, so you'll be reporting to Eld for now. He'll get you set up with everything." Petra cleared her throat and smiled, "You know you really don't look anything like what the others described you to be."

"Really?" I asked, a little bewildered by how nice she was acting considering why I was even working in this place to begin with.

"Yeah, I was expecting some brutish thug from the way Oluo described you. But, look at you. You're a little baby face." She saw the confusion registering all over my face and she waved her hand dismissively, "One of the bakers, you'll meet him eventually. He was here on the day you broke the door."

"Uh huh…" I glanced toward the door she was leading me toward.

She knocked twice on the door at the end of the hall, "Eld. It's me. I have the new guy with me. Can I send him in?"

"Yeah, go back to your station."

Petra opened the door and gestured for me to enter. She gave me a thumbs up and she was on her way. The man she had referred to as Eld was currently in the corner of the room working on a laptop. When he looked up at me he instantly closed the computer, set it inside of a black cabinet and then took a seat at the desk in the center of the room.

"Have a seat, Eren." He was in the process of making something by the window, "Tea? Coffee? Water?"

"No, thank you." I began.

"Hm." He began stepping a tea bag into a mug of hot water. Eld turned his back on me to reach into a filing cabinet of some sort and then threw a thick manila folder down on the desk in front of me, "That's for you to read."

"What is it?" I asked, reaching for the intimidating folder.

He blew across the surface of the steaming mug, "According to Levi, its a binding contract basically stating what was already discussed in court. He just needs a couple of things documented in writing." Eld took a cautionary sip of the tea and blanched, "You break it in anyway, you'll have another big fat lawsuit coming your way, buddy."

I flipped through the heavy document and sighed inwardly. Even though I had gone to school with the intention of becoming a lawyer, I _loathed _reading this type of paperwork. I closed the folder and looked up at Eld, "And you expect me to sign all of this now?"

"That would be why I gave it to you now, wouldn't it?" He rolled a pen my way, "You don't have to sign much. Just three sheets. The rest of it is for you to take home and look over."

I picked it up and opened the folder once again. After I signed the three sheets he had mentioned, a pink sheet caught my eye and I pulled it from the folder, "What's this?"

"For you to hold on to. In case your time here comes to a close for any reason, that paper nullifies this mountain of paperwork you just assigned me to." He sipped at his tea, "That's all."

"…Is there anything else that I have to sign for?"

"Nope, just one more thing. Come with me."

Eld motioned for me to follow him out of the room and I walked with him down the hallway into a more spacious room lined with coat hooks and a row of small lockers. This was the break room, obviously. I left my coat behind and Eld unceremoniously held out a stark white apron for me to take. I rolled up the sleeves on my white button down shirt, tied the apron around my waist and Eld crossed his arms over his chest and smirked down at me.

"Well, Eren… welcome to _Levi_'s."

-x-

Mikasa had been right.

She was so right it freaking hurt.

My hands had been soaked in dishes for the better portion of the morning and I'd barely seen the light of day since coming into the café. Petra came into the kitchen every now and then with orders for random desserts that they were out of and sometimes stopped by to ask how I was doing every now and then. I also met the Oluo guy she had been talking about right after Eld had set me up with dish washing duty in the kitchen.

First impressions? He was an idiot. A overzealous, overconfident idiot. He tripped himself up most of the time because he had a habit of biting his tongue. Probably his body's own defense mechanism to prevent him for talking more than he should. …Which was already a lot to begin with. There was also Gunther, one of the other pastry chefs. He was pretty quiet and didn't say much to me, so I found him more tolerable than Oluo at that point in time. Lastly, there was Sasha. …This nervous girl who was always sneaking cannolis out of the pastry display up front. She was friendly … if a little skittish and somewhat strange.

Overall, I had been okay with settling into the new environment. No one said anything to me and went on about their business like I wasn't even there. But, of course, hell would descend on me like a two ton weight, and that was when Levi finally made his appearance. Think of it this way, I was Anne Hathaway and Levi was without a doubt Meryl Streep.

All I saw was the top of his head and sunglasses before I abruptly turned around and tried to bury my face into the suds surrounding my arms. His shoes _clicked _as he waltzed through the kitchen and stopped to say something to Oluo, but he spoke too low for me to hear. He moved again a few minutes later and this time in my direction.

"…You."

No name. Just _you_.

I turned around and wordlessly acknowledged him. His sunglasses were balanced precariously in one hand with nary a strand of hair out of place on that horrible undercut of his. There he was, leather gloves, crisp slacks, leather shoes, black cashmere scarf and a half open black peacoat. Jesus _Christ_, was he polished. I thought this guy was the owner of a god damn _bakery_, not some androgynous model in an upscale Italian fashion magazine.

"Take a break at two. You better be back here in the same spot by _3PM _**sharp**. Come to my office at five."

"Yes, sir. I—"

He ignored me fumbling for my words and walked up beside me to survey the drying dishes at my side, "…And wash these again. They're _filthy._"

And that was all he said to me before walking away. That was it. No snarky comments, no hexes that would damn me to the ninth circle of hell. Just take a break, be prompt and _wash _these dishes again? I picked up a dish to inspect it and scoffed at his earlier comment. These dishes were _immaculate_. What the hell?

"Better do as he says. Levi's … a little on the neurotic side about cleanliness."

Petra was coming up to me with a stack of dirty dishes in her arms. She smiled reassuringly and I stepped aside so she could stack them in the opposite sink. She ran some water over the food crusted dishes as I sighed and resigned myself to start washing them again, "Are you sure he isn't just neurotic in general?"

She stifled her laugh with the back of her hand, "Get to washing, Eren."

At least she used my name. I set about washing all the dishes again and inspected them thoroughly for any remnants of the make believe food particles Levi had found. Around two I finally hung up my apron and went into the backroom to get my stuff so I could go on break. Armin was the first person I called.

"I want to kill myself." I began as he picked up, "I am _going _to kill myself."

"Eren, it's only the first day." He chuckled, "What have you done so far?"

"WASH DISHES ALL DAY." I seethed into my phone. I turned up onto 7th Ave as I was in desperate need of coffee. I could have gotten it from the café, but do you think I wanted to stay in there for another _minute_?

"Ouch." Armin said, sympathizing with my plight and then cleared his throat, "Well, have you talked to your new boss any?"

"Armin, this isn't funny."

"Sorry, Eren. Just trying to make light of a bad situation." He laughed.

"Yeah, no… not really. He came in dressed like a prissy prima donna and told me to come to his office at five." I muttered, narrowly avoiding some oblivious airhead and her stupid little bitchy dog, "Some guy named Eld took care of all my paperwork crap this morning. I think he's like the manager or something because he was filling in for Levi when he wasn't here this morning…"

"Go on, I'm listening."

"_OH_! And that weird chick… you know, the four eyed crazy chick from court? I ran into _her _this morning as well." I paused at the corner, "She had this dog with her and was threatening to have it pee all over Levi's stuff if he didn't see her. …I guess they know each other."

"You mean the woman that said it would be hilarious to see Levi go berserk over how badly you trashed the store front?"

"Yeah, her. She seems to have issues with personal space…" I said as I crossed the street.

"What about the people you work with?"

"Well, there's this really nice girl named Petra that helped me out this morning. She seems normal. There's this guy Gunther that doesn't really say anything…" I stopped walking when I realized I had run into a Starbucks and instantly pulled the door open to go inside, "…Oh, there's this _weirdo_. His name's Oluo and he's freaking retarded. I can't even begin to describe him, you have to meet him. …And there's this other weird girl, Sasha. We haven't talked much because she's usually up by the register and I've been in the back almost all day..."

"Sounds like a pretty small, tight knit group."

"Well, the café is small to begin with but it's in a pretty high traffic spot." I replied, "This morning the line for coffee was almost out the door."

"Well, that's good I guess."

"Yeah, I guess. Armin, hold on, I'm getting coffee."

"Okay."

When the barista called me forward as the next in line I put in an order for a sweetened black coffee and waited for them to call my name.

"Yeah … so… that's about it for now. I've been staring mindlessly into dirty soap and water for the past six hours."

"Sounds like a good time for some existentialist reflection."

"_No_." I said, just as they called my name and my cup of coffee was being pushed my way. I spun it around and grimaced, "They spelled my name wrong again."

"Hm?"

"_Airinn_. Like air, as in the element and an inn that you stay at." I sighed and picked up my cup. Never believe in the baristas at Starbucks to spell your name right. _Never_. I took a sip from the cup and shrugged, "At least the coffee's okay."

"You'd probably do better with…" He paused for a minute and then suddenly got really loud, "Zostera marina? That's a species of seagrass usually found in the Northern hemisphere … yeah, it's more commonly referred to as common eelgrass."

"…Armin, what in the _hell _are you talking about?"

"Yes, yes. Hm, I see your problem."

"_Armin_."

"Ah… I see." He paused for a minute and then got loud again, "Well, zostera noltei is within the same species but it's not exactly the same plant."

"Okay, I get it. Your boss is probably around, so you're bullshitting and pretending that you're talking on the phone with someone important. Go on, I don't want you to get in trouble. Call me when you're free?"

"Yes, yes. I'm glad I could help you. You have a good day to, sir."

I snickered, "Talk to you later, you dork."

He lowered his voice and whispered into the phone, "Hang in there, Eren. I'll call you back when I get off."

The line went dead before I could even respond and I was left with nothing but the tapping of some hipster on their MacBook behind me and my coffee cup dangling from my disinterested hand. I checked the time again. _2:15PM_. Forty five minutes to sit around in America's favorite corporate coffee distributor, pretending to be productive while I focused my attention on the people wandering back and forth outside the window before me and forgot about Levi if only for a little while.

-x-

Levi was at his desk, coffee mug balanced in his left hand while he scribbled furiously with a pen in his right. He paused what he was doing to look at me after I cautiously peaked my head in when he told me to come in. He gestured to the seat I had sat in previously when I talked to Eld that morning and sat his pen down at his side.

"Sit." I did as he instructed and he lowered his gaze back down to the papers in front of him. Levi took a sip of his coffee, "You talked with Eld this morning?"

"Yes." He lifted his eyes to look wordlessly at me and I groaned inwardly. "…Sir."

Levi rifled through the sheets in front of him, "Your paperwork is satisfactory. Nothing to fix there." He finally stopped messing around with the papers and looked up at me, "I called you in here to discuss the matter of your work hours. I expect you to be here from Monday to Friday, at 8am to 5pm. Saturdays, 5pm until closing. Is that clear?"

Was he _trying _to kill what little bit of life I had left? I shifted in my chair and glanced at the clock overhead as Levi stared intently at me and waited for my answer. "…Uhm, what will my duties entail?"

"The same as today." He murmured, taking another sip from his mug, "Dish washing. Making sure this place is _spotless._" Levi leaned back in his chair, "There's also the matter of transporting shipments when they arrive. Carrying things in, unloading equipment. Those types of things." He paused, "Can you ride a bike?"

"…Yes." Why did I _not _like where this was going?

"Good. You'll be doing deliveries as well then." He looked up at me finally, "Do you have any additional questions?"

I swallowed past the lump in my throat and straightened my posture. There was no reason to be afraid of this demonic midget. He may have been intimidating with his permanently furrowed eyebrows and cutthroat manner of speech, but I'd faced worse. I cleared my throat and began to speak, "…There's the matter of pay, I…" As soon as the word _pay _left my mouth I felt the temperature in the room take a complete nosedive. And did his eye just twitch? _Shit. _ "I mean, uhm… how does that translate into what I owe you? I mean, hourly. How …"

"_Read_ the papers Eld gave you." Levi replied and turned around in his chair so that his back was to me, "Now if you're done embarrassing yourself for today, you're dismissed. Have Petra check you out."

…That's it? That's all he wanted to talk to me about?

I rose from my seat, "See you tomorrow… sir."

He didn't say anything as I let the door close behind me and let out the breath I was holding in. I quickly went to the break room, hung up the damn apron and grabbed my coat as I wanted to get out of that bakery as fast as possible. Petra was up front pouring tea from a kettle into two small, round porcelain cups. When she saw me she dusted her hands off and waved me on to keep on going past the counter and out of the café.

"I'll punch you out, Eren." She smiled, "Are you here tomorrow?"

"Yeah, bright and early." I muttered, zipping up my coat.

"You talked with Levi then?" Her smiled grew smaller.

I shrugged, "If you wanna call it that."

"Hm." Petra nodded, "Well, have a good night. See you in the morning, Eren."

"Yeah, see ya."

I waved at her and then turned around to let myself out of the café and turned down the street to head to the train station and back to Brooklyn.


End file.
